Master Yeshey Zimba

He seems to make up in studies what he lacks on the sports ground. What he lacks in confidence, he makes up because he is the eldest in a large group of brothers, sisters and countless cousins all in the same school. They seem to hold him up as their elder brother but somehow I think while they pretend to look up to him, they are actually trying to do him a favour by raising him in front of other senior students, who might otherwise neglect or even bully him.

Zimba is an odd boy. At times very religious and saintly (as he doesn’t play sports, he participates in school prayers and cultural projects) and other times very strong willed and focused on what he wants. Being from a wealthy family, he has a lot of money that he lends around to poorer kids at high interest rates or for favours. He is known as the “Bank of Punakha”. One example of his focus on success is when he wanted to be class captain. He told the classmates he would spare them their loan payments if they praised him to the class teacher and get him appointed as captain. He succeeded, but he spared them only the interest and got back his money anyway.

He is a difficult boy to understand. He has a smile on his face all the time but its never really clear what he is feeling or thinking. Sometimes he displays such thoughtlessness and cruelty, such as when he refused to donate any money for the cremation of a parent of one of the poorest students. Even the poorest kids donated their pocket money. He refused. No one knows why because he could afford it and it would have saved him from the anger of his classmates. But that’s Yeshey, its difficult to know what his motivations are.

He will succeed in life. He doesn’t have too many distractions like other kids. The only question is whether he will utilize his potential for good or not. He could go either way or even both ways at the same time. Wherever he goes his family will be there. They are like locusts, always in large hordes. They use each other well and seem to believe in the strength of numbers.

Comments

When this student laughs, he knows that he is going to benefit from the conversation even at the cost of dismantling the school. He is a good student because he always attends the NA (nepotistic assemble). He even attends the extra class, the Council of criminals/corrupts regularly because he is most of the time the officiating captain, since the captain is always out on selling the school for the benefit of his family.

Master Yeshey Zimba the Wiley old man is shrewd, smooth and a man who knows what he wants and knows how to get it. Under the guise of his affable smile and low profile pretenses ,he has successfully gotten away with so many acts that PM JYT has been accused of. No doubt JYT is guilty of most of what has been said about him, however,no other Minister can quite catch up with old Zimba in the millions in cash and properties that he has very quietly emassed through the many years of his serving the Tsawa Sum. In terms of nepotism which our Lyonchen has often been accused of, he can match if not beat it.His brother who was removed from the BBS for financial mismanagement got transferred to the Foreign Ministry and serves as the Ambassador to Brussels. His two sisters,one who used to work in a Hair Salon is now the PA to the ambassador in New York and his other sister works as a senior diplomat in the same Mission. His youngest sister who works in the Health got to do her masters in one of the most expensive colleges in the USA. His present project is building the biggest hotel in Bhutan and God knows what bigger projects he will come up with.On the question of land, someone should find out from the Land Commission how many acres the man has quietly acquired during his tenure in the govt.
So, while we focus on JYT, JZ has smuck on his face and a crooked smile.